


soulmates (longer)

by sherrybaby



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, It Sucks, M/M, More Backstory, etc - Freeform, literally just a more fleshed out version of my first one, ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 05:17:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12125361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherrybaby/pseuds/sherrybaby





	soulmates (longer)

eddie kaspbrak sighed, looking in the mirror, and tried to flatten his cowlick down once more. he heard his mom call his name from downstairs and instinctively straightened up.

_‘well… this is as good as its gonna get.’_

normally he’d be ready- excited, even- for school, but as a junior, getting ready for college and taking english and history honors classes meant a heavier workload. he was bound to see a familiar face or two as bill and stan were taking a couple (or, in stan’s case, all four) of the same classes, and would probably see ben and mike in homeroom. 

mrs. kaspbrak grabbed his shoulders, then licked her fingers and set to work on taming his untamable hair. she was always fussing and normally she would start in on him about his grades and college; she must have seen the look on his face because she mostly kept quiet. as she worked, eddie found himself face to face with her words. a small line, five words, running down the side of her hand.

_may i have this dance?_

the first words frank kaspbrak ever said to sonia james, taking her hand in his, whisking her onto the dance floor and into married life. his words to her showed up two days later, cementing the bond between them, in the exact place his hand had laid. 

it was sort of an unspoken rule that the words would only appear if the soulmates were touching- the speaker making contact, more specifically. the grownups kept this secret so the kids wouldn’t run around grabbing onto strangers. of course, everyone figured it out anyways 

 there was no age limit to finding your soulmate; some found them as early as three or four years old. others lived their entire lives without finding anyone. eddie was beginning to wonder if this was his case. 

sonia kaspbrak noticed her son looking at her hand and squeezed his shoulder.

“you don’t need to worry about all of that right now, you have grades and college-” eddie groaned but she continued on- “and you don’t need to waste your time looking for a soulmate so young. you don’t need anyone but your own ma, eddie.”

“that’s getting really old.”

sonia’s eyes softened, seeing how distressed he was. they had had a rocky relationship lately, eddie growing more defiant and rebellious, sonia sometimes fearing her own son. 

“eddie you need me and i need you,” he took in a deep breath, “but maybe you’re ready to spread your wings.” sonia had found that relenting often made things easier nowadays. he shot her a grateful look before scooping up his backpack and heading out the door.

* * *

walking into school, eddie could see words had sprouted on more of his classmates over the summer. even greta fucking bowie had found someone, and she was evil. he saw with some relief that neither henry nor his friends belch or patrick had found anyone; victor had, a girl from another school who had calmed him down immensely. henry hated her.  

* * *

“‘oh yeah?” well  _your_ mom is so fucking-”

eddie groaned loudly, drowning out the rest of the insult.

“is there a problem over there?” the voice called out.a ripple of laughter flowed through the students. eddie glared at the boy, the tip of his ears reddening; he pulled his inhaler from his fanny pack and took a puff. he was not in the mood to get worked up over some asshole.

eddie had rolled his eyes so much at the obnoxious boy in algebra class, he was beginning to worry they’d get stuck pointed at the ceiling. another uproar of laughter from the corner sent eddie’s eyes wandering across the classroom before landing on mike. mike raised his eyebrows, shaking his head and turned his hands slightly upwards in a ‘fucking really?’ gesture. eddie tilted his head in agreement before turning back to his work.

the bell rang-  _finally-_  and the two boys headed towards lunch to meet ben and stan, soulmates from day one. 

* * *

_ben’s first day at school didn’t exactly go as planned. he’d had to ask for a sturdier chair in homeroom because his creaked loudly under the weight, he’d eaten lunch alone under the whispered stares of the other students, gotten pushed down at gym where he scraped his knee, and it bled profusely; he’d gotten lost on his way to the nurse somehow and a nice kid named eddie showed him the way. ‘i’m a regular,’ he had joked. ben finally snapped in the last class of the day. a boy who sat one row behind him to his left had gotten ridiculed to the point of tears by none other than henry bowers and belch huggins._

_‘leave him alone,’ ben muttered. the class went silent._

_‘what? what did you say to me, you little shit?’_

_‘henry bowers, watch your language,’ the teacher called from the front of the room.  
_

_'leave. him. alone. i’m tired of hearing you pick on him for no reason. cut it out.’_

_henry made a lunge for ben, grasping onto the front of his sweatshirt with one hand, forming his right into a fist._

_‘henry bowers, go to the office,’ the teacher screeched, flying across the room. she grabbed him by the collar before he could touch ben and began marching him out of the room.  
_

_'you’re dead,’ henry promised him._

_a tap on ben’s shoulder got his attention; his blue eyes met dark brown ones, shining with life, in contrast to the kid’s serious demeanor. “you shouldn’t have done that, kid.”_

_“well, you’re welcome,” ben grumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed that he took up for some ungrateful kid, shoving his sweatshirt sleeves up his arms..  
_

_“hey,” stan reached out and poked his shoulder again. ‘thank you. really. but now they’ll be coming for you.”  
_

_“it’s nothing i haven’t heard before.”  
_

_“this is different,” and for the first time, ben saw fear in the boy’s eyes.  
_

_“are you okay?” ben asked, reaching out to grab stan’s wrist._ _the words appeared instantly, as if they had been shared on paper rather than said aloud._

_stan gripped ben’s forearm. “I am now.”_

* * *

eddie felt a twinge of jealousy seeing the two, sitting down at the lunch table next to bill, wondering if he and bill destined to be alone forever. bill denbrough was cute enough, and well-loved once people got to know him, but nobody ever tried because of his stutter and his kid brother dying. 

‘that would fuck anyone up,’ mike mused once. beverly had smacked his arm, shushing him before sliding her hand into his.  mike and beverly had found each other two years ago and had been inseparable since. their words were simple, ‘may i join you?’ written on the crook of her neck; she had been wearing a tank top that day, and headphones, and mike had to get her attention. she had always thought he was cute from far away, but up close, he was breath-taking; mike had felt the same way and finally admitted to it on their one year anniversary. she patted the seat next to her and when he sat down, she touched his bicep. ‘ i thought you’d never ask.’

‘at least i’d be in good company,’ eddie thought miserably. ‘maybe big bill and i could form a group of wild bachelors.’

* * *

“hey! wait up!’ eddie ignored the voice calling behind him as he walked him. it sounded vaguely familiar but it wasn’t one of his friends. ‘it probably isn’t even for me’

“hey!’ the person was closer now.

suddenly eddie was spun around by his shoulders and face to face with the boy from algebra. the boy grinned, his eyes magnified by his glasses, his brown hair unruly. it offered a sort of i-woke-up-like-this charm.

“what.” the boy took a step back, still grinning.

“that was some of my best material today in class and you didn’t even care.”

“why would i? you were being fucking obnoxious, i couldn’t concentrate,” eddie folded his arms and glared at the taller boy.

“its part of my charm,” he grinned. “richie tozier’s the name and insults is my game,” he extended a hand out. eddie glared at it. richie’s smile faltered slightly.  
  


“what.” eddie said again.

“look, i just want to”- eddie saw richie’s hand coming again and tried to side step it but failed, richie’s hand cupped the back of eddie’s neck

“holy shit. is that a fucking fanny pack?”

eddie shrugged his hand off

“so fucking what” he spat, the turned around and stalked off.

* * *

eddie’s shrieks were so loud they could be heard two streets over. there, written on the back of his neck  _in plain sight_  were the words

_holy shit. is that a fucking fanny pack_

he was enraged. he was livid. he was going to kill richie. but not before he grabbed a hoodie.

all day he spent fuming, hoping to god that no one would ask about his attire in 85+ weather. of course, mike did. he laughed so hard he cried. he double over in giggle fits every time he saw eddie, which, given their schedules was a lot. then he told the rest of the group. stan gave eddie a sympathetic pat but didn’t conceal his grin nearly enough. eddie fumed even more.

in algebra class, richie sat on his desk, nearly bouncing in anticipation. he smiled widely and raised a hand as eddie walked in

“hey, eds!” was all he got out before eddie attacked him. he grabbed him by the shoulders, his hands slipping under richie’s sleeves.

“tozier you fucking asshole i’ve been waiting my entire life to meet my soulmate and it’s you and your first words to me were about a fucking fanny pack and now i’ve got  _this”-_ he ripped off the hood with one hand- “on my fucking neck for the  _rest of my life_  i can’t believe you did this to me”

you could hear a pen drop. richie stared wide eyed at the smaller boy who was now panting with anger. richie reached for eddie’s fanny pack,afraid he’d worked himself up into an attack. 

“i think you need this.”

“are you fucking kidding me?” eddie asked, but finally releasing his death grip on richie’s arms. he snatched the inhaler, taking a puff. after he had calmed down, he looked at richie.

“you’re not mad? i mean… that’s on you forever.”

“hell no! i love it! maybe i can win a contest: most words in a soulmate tattoo.”

eddie rolled his eyes, something he would find himself doing constantly over the year, but with more and more affection each time.

at dinner parties, they’d be asked about their tattoos, and richie would proudly whip his shirt off and display his before planting a kiss on eddie’s neck.


End file.
